Taliban Might Be Using Arms From U.s.

Rounds Sent To Afghanistan Possibly Leaked To Militants

May 20, 2009|By C.J. Chivers The New York Times

KABUL, Afghanistan — Insurgents in Afghanistan, fighting from some of the poorest and most remote regions on earth, have managed to maintain a guerrilla war against materially superior U.S. and Afghan forces.

Arms and ordnance collected from dead insurgents hint at one possible reason: Of 30 rifle magazines recently taken from insurgents' corpses, at least 17 contained cartridges, or rounds, identical to ammunition that the United States had provided to Afghan government forces.

The presence of this ammunition among the dead in an area of fighting near the Pakistan border suggests that munitions procured by the Pentagon have leaked from Afghan forces for use against U.S. troops.

The scope of that diversion remains unknown, and the 30 magazines represented a single sampling of fewer than 1,000 cartridges. But military officials, arms analysts and dealers say it points to a worrisome possibility: With only spotty U.S. and Afghan controls on the vast inventory of weapons and ammunition sent into Afghanistan, poor discipline and corruption among Afghan forces may have helped supply insurgents.

The rifle magazines were captured in April by a platoon that killed at least 13 insurgents in an ambush. The soldiers searched the insurgents' remains and collected 10 rifles, a rocket-propelled-grenade launcher, 30 magazines and other equipment.

Photographs were taken of the weapons' serial numbers and markings on the bottoms of the cartridge casings, known as headstamps, which can reveal where and when ammunition was manufactured. The headstamps were then compared with ammunition in government circulation and with this reporter's records of ammunition sampled in Afghan magazines and bunkers in multiple provinces in recent years.

The examination of the Taliban's cartridges found signs of diversion: 17 of the magazines contained ammunition bearing either of two stamps, "WOLF" or "bxn."

"WOLF" stamps mark ammunition from Wolf Performance Ammunition, a California firm that sells Russian-made cartridges to American gun owners. The company has also provided cartridges for Afghan soldiers and police officers.

The "bxn" marking was formerly used at a Czech factory during the Cold War. Since 2004, the Czech government has donated surplus ammunition and equipment to Afghanistan. AEY Inc., a former Pentagon supplier, also shipped surplus Czech ammunition to Afghanistan, including cartridges bearing "bxn" stamps.